Copy-holder.



T. J. MARTIN.

4 COPY HOLDER. APPLICATION rum) 11.20, 1910.

Patented Dec. 27, 1 910..

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MIINUM/l/M MUUU M T. J. MARTIN.

COPY HOLDER. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 20, 1910.

Patented Dec.27, 1910.

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TRUMAN J. MARTIN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

COPY-HOLDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 2'7, 1910.

Application filed January 20, 1910. Serial No. 539,000.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, TRUMAN J. MARTIN, of New York, in the county of New York and in the State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Im rovement in Copy-Holders, and do here y declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

The object of my invention has been to provide a copyholder for typewriters, which shall have, among others, the following advantages: That it shall hold the copy in a line dlrectly above the keyboard, so that the operative can conveniently change the eyes from the keyboard to the copy and vice versa; that it shall hold the copy close to the operative, and that it shall not obstruct the use of the machine; and to such ends my invention consists in the typewriter copyholder hereinafter specified.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a front elevation and Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a typewriter having a copyholderembodying my invention applied thereto; and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a lug adapted to hold my copyholder on machines of a variety of makes and dimensions.

In explaining my invention, I shall describe that embodiment of it which I consider the best embodiment known to me. It is to be understood, however, that my invention is capable of embodiment in many different forms, and the illustrated embodiment is only to be taken as typical.

In the use of the typewriter, the copy is usually supported at one side of the typewriting machine. The operative, unless unusually skilled, must look frequently from the keyboard to the copy and back again. As the copy is ordinarily supported, it is a complex physiological operation to change the vision from one to the other of these objects. The eyes must usually be raised and turned to one side, and it is (quite unconsciously to many operatives) an operation requiring considerable attention and strain to focus the eyes quickly on the copy after they have been on the keyboard. In fact, I believe that many headaches are caused by the strain of this operation, and a loss of time from work is the result therefrom. To overcome this difficulty, I have sought to provide a copyholder which will support the copy in the same vertical plane with the keyboard, so that the eyes can pass from the copy to the keyboard and vice versa by a simple raising and lowering in a vertical planea movement of the eyes which is as simple as any it is possible to make. While copyholders have before been designed for this purpose, they have, so far as I am aware, not been practicable. They have usually supported the copy from a point of attachment to the frame of the ty ewriter at the rear of the carriage, which l as resulted in one or more of the disadvantages that the copy is held too far away from the operator, or that it is insecurely supported because of the long horizontal distance from the point of support, or that the operation of the machine, such as the inserting of paper in the carriage or the erasure of typewritten matter while the paper is in the carriage, has been interfered with. The copyholder which I have invented does not, I believe, ossess any of these disadvantages. In the illustrated embodiment of my invention, I have shown it applied to a typewriter having a frame 1, with a keyboard 2, and a carriage 3. The cylinder 1 of the carriage is provided with the usual paper-holding fingers 5, which are illustrated in their normal position in full lines and in their raised position in dotted lines. A

My copyholder is preferably formed of wire, and is supported in lugs 6 havingbifurcated feet 7, which are adapted to be passed under the heads 8 of screws which are normally present on the typewriter frame, the bifurcated feet of the lugs spanning the shank of the screws and being clamped on the frame by screwing the heads down on the said feet. The said lugs are provided with upwardly and rearwardly inclined holes in which are received the lower ends 9 of wires 10 which rise vertically and rearwardly to support the body of the copyholder. said wires 10 are preferably bent toward each other at a level well above the cylinder 4:, and are then bent upwardly and rearwardly to form wires 11, which are connected at the top as by a wire 12 integral with the wires 11. The wires 11 are also connected at their lower end, as by a wire 13 having its ends bent about the wires 11. The rectangle formed by the wires 11, 12 and 13 is preferably crossed by a lattice work, as that formed by wires 14 and 15, which are connected at their upper ends to the wires 11, and at their lower ends to the wire 13, and are twisted together in the interior of the frame. A spring clip for hold- The ing the copy against the wires 14 and 15 is formed by fastening a wire 16 at one end to the wire 13, and forming a loop terminating in a free end 16 which is adapted to bear against the said wires. The copy is principally held by the portion 16 of the spring clip, and the free end 16 permits a page of the copy to be pulled by the corner and released without its being turned, because such free end bears comparatively lightly on the co order to provide for holding long copy, a frame slidable upon the wires 11 is formed, as by forming a horizontal cross wire 17 with vertical legs 18, said legs being provided with eyes 19 at their lower end, which eyes inclose the wires 11. The upper ends of the wires ll and 15 are not only wound about the wires 11 but about the legs 18, so that eyes are formed through which the legs 18 may slide. Loops 20 are preferably formed at the ends of the wire 17 and bent forward so as to afford a lateral support for copy held on the said wire. Similarly, loops 12 are formed on the wire 12 to afford a lateral support for the copy.

In the use of my copyholder, the copy, if a card or single sheet, is caught between the clip 16 and the wires 14 and 15. If it be in the form of a note book, it can be hung across the wire 12. If the copy be legal paper, the slide can be raised and the paper hung across the upper end. The arch formed by the wires 10 and 13 exposes the paper on the cylinder so that erasures can be readily made. The copyholder is so positioned that the paper fingers 5 can be raised and lowered without striking the copyholder.

The copyholder is, as illustrated, supported in front of the carriage and back of the keyboard. In this manner the copy is brought close to the operative, and yet, be-

cause of the construction of the copyholder,

the operation of the machine is not interfered with in any manner. Not only can erasures be made, but paper can be readily inserted into the carriage.

In order that the copyholder may be out of the way when the machine is to be covered, as with a cloth, or folded back into a typewriter desk, I provide lugs 21 which are fastened to the frame of the machine in the 'same manner as the lugs 6, and difierent therefrom only in the inclination of the sockets formed therein. The legs 10 of the copyholder can be inserted in the lugs 21, the copyholder being turned over, and because of the bent form of the lower end of said legs, the copyholder will lie close to the machine.

To adapt my copyholder to be secured to machines of various widths, I provide the lug shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The said lug consists of a plate 22 having a fork 23 formed thereon. The fork can be secured to the frame of the machine by inserting it beneath the head of a screw in a manner similar to that of fastening the lugs 6 before described. The plate is provided with a series of holes 24, each of which is adapted to receive the ends of the wires 10, so that the particular copyholder being used can be fitted, notwithstanding that the screws by which the lugs are fastened to the machine may be of different widths.

It is obvious that various changes can be made in the above embodiment of my in vention which will be within the scope of it, and I desire not to be limited beyond the re quirements of the prior art, and the necessary intendment of my claims.

I claim:

1. The combination of a typewriter having a carriage and a keyboard, a copyholder having legs with feet bent at an angle thereto, and two sets of lugs on said typewriter frame, one set of lugs having sockets adapted when receiving said feet to hold said copyholder in an upright position, and the other set of lugs having sockets adapted when receiving said feet to hold said copyholder in a prone posit-ion.

2. The combination of a typewriter having a carriage and a keyboard, a copyholder having legs with feet bent at an angle there to, and two sets of lugs on said typewriter frame, one set of lugs having sockets adapted when receiving said feet to hold said copyholder in an upright position, and the other set of lugs having sockets adapted when receiving said feet to hold said copyholder in a prone position, said first set of lugs being mounted to the rear of said last set of lugs.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand.

TRUMAN J. MARTIN.

Witnesses A. NEWCOMB, M. MEIKLE. 

